Kida harara
Other names: Kida so'emo, owojo : Country reported: The kida harara is a cryptid reported from the Karitiana tribe reservation in the southwestern ian Amazon, described as a red-haired, bulletproof giant sloth. Sightings of the kida harara have been classified as mapinguari sightings by sources including the New York Times, Josh Gates, and Pat Spain.Beast Man: Nightmare of the Amazon Etymology "Kida so'emo" means "black faced beast" in Karitiana.Felipe Ferreira Vander Velden, (2009). Sobre caes e indios: domesticidade, classificacao zoologica e relacao humano-animal entre os Karitiana. Avá n.15 Posadas dez. 2009. Description The kida harara is described as a red-haired, foul-smelling, bulletproof animal with large claws, resembling a giant anteater. At least one purported eyewitness has directly identified it as a living ground sloth. It can be aggressive towards people, and because of its bulletproof hide, it can only be killed by being shot in the head with a heavy lead slug. Sightings Several sightings of the kida harara have occured on the Karitiana tribe reservation, especially near an area apparently known as the "Cave of the Mapinguari" (see below, 2003 or 2004), although the Karitiana name for the animal is said to be "kida so'emo". In one incident, a Karitiana man named Moaci was out hunting when he saw what he believed was a giant anteater, due to its claws; but when the animal stood up, it was taller than a man. Moaci fled, pursued by the animal, and hid himself under a tree, which the animal attempted to uproot. Two men were driving in their car when a kida harara came out of the forest. They hid, and it moved away. 2003 or 2004 A Karitiana man named Geovaldo claimed to have encountered a kida harara in 2003 or 2004 near an area called "the Cave of the Mapinguari", altough he gives conflicting accounts of the sighting. In the first report, he simply said he had seen it and been knocked unconcious by the smell: This account was confirmed by Geovaldo's father Lucas, who said that when his son took him back to the site of the encounter, he saw a cleared pathway where the creature had departed, "as if a boulder had rolled through and knocked down all the trees and vines". In the very different account given later on Beast Hunter, Geovaldo actually shot the animal. He said he was hunting wild pigs when he was attacked by a kida harara. He fired at it multiple times before loading his gun with a lead slug, and firing at the animals face. The mapinguari stopped and screamed in pain, and Geovaldo escaped. Interviewed for Destination Truth in 2008, Geovaldo said that he saw the kida harara when he went out to hunt, shot at it, and ran off when it charged at him. Expeditions 2008 (Destination Truth) In a 2008 investigation into the mapinguari for Destination Truth, Josh Gates travelled to the Amazon to interview eyewitnesses, including Geovaldo. He and his team carried out a nighttime investigation, where they heard the snapping of trees, and found torn-apart palm trees. They also recorded an animal call which a former Los Angeles zookeeper was unable to identify.Destination Truth: Flying Dinosaur/Sloth Monster 2011 (Beast Man) Pat Spain's 2011 investigation into the mapinguari came up with evidence of the kida harara being a giant sloth. He blasted a call and got a respose; both calls sounded like deeper sloth shrieks. He interviewed Geovaldo, who identified the animal he saw as a giant sloth. Similar cryptids *The mapinguari *The segamai, a cryptid sloth of the Peruvian Amazon, equated with the sloth-form of the mapinguari - and, by extension, the kida harara - by authors including George Eberhart and the New York Times. Notes and references Category:Cryptids Category:South America Category:Brazil Category:Theory: Living fossil - Ground sloth